Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: What are you planning to grow this year?  (Read 4572 times)

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2019, 11:32:49 pm »

I don't know much about growing flowers because I've always grown things I can eat.


There are loads of pretty flowers you can eat, such as the petals of pot marigolds, the flowers of viola and nasturtiums, chives and cornfowers.
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/edible-flower-mix/tka2656TM?source=aw&affid=477705&awc=2283_1554723578_4dd3710c2e109e8cbb69314b0abfcfe0
This might be T&M's mixed edible flowers seeds for £2.99.
They would mix perfectly with some small veg and herbs for your flower raised bed and even smell nice


Oh yes, I use nasturtium flowers in salad and also borage leaves.I didn't know about viola and cornflowers but I will try those. I did know about pot marigolds so may well sow some of those. I do grow chives and allow them to flower as the flowers are pretty and the bees love them. Did you mean the flowers of chives can be eaten?


I'm also growing some wild garlic so a few leaves of those will be used.

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #16 on: April 11, 2019, 11:34:47 pm »

 My beds are 36 ich high  , the trianglur collapsable frame I use to grow blue lake climbing french beans is eight foot tall . when the triancle is set a foot or so inth bed I can't rach the top beans either unless I get a set of steps .

Here's what I used last year ...   Use epoxy resin to glue a hooked Stanley knife blade into a stick ensuring he bottom hook is hiddden inside the stick (aka an old  broom stick with a slot cut inthe action end )  . 


Clever idea. I have one or two broom handles around waiting for me to find a use for them


Once it's set& cyured  for say 48 hrs use it to  hook the stalk of the highest of beans and give the stick a sharp tug to sever the stem ...gravity takes care of the rest .

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #17 on: April 12, 2019, 12:17:53 am »
I never got them yet, but am planning to get high fruiting varieties.
As far as I know the best way of harvesting then is to put whole branches in the freezer and then shake of the frozen berries


Nifty  :idea:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

chrismahon

  • Joined Dec 2011
  • Gascony, France
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #18 on: April 12, 2019, 07:33:40 am »
Reaching the top of french beans is difficult unless you train them at a suitable height. We have considered dwarf varieties but all the bending down rummaging through the foliage (as we used to do) isn't good for the back.

pgkevet

  • Joined Jul 2011
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #19 on: April 13, 2019, 11:46:23 am »
 I start my dwarf french in 3in pots.. 3 to a pot and plant pots out 9" apart.. easy to find the pods and i don't bend well. I prefer them to the climbing ones.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #20 on: April 13, 2019, 06:46:01 pm »

I don't know much about growing flowers because I've always grown things I can eat.


There are loads of pretty flowers you can eat, such as the petals of pot marigolds, the flowers of viola and nasturtiums, chives and cornfowers.
https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/edible-flower-mix/tka2656TM?source=aw&affid=477705&awc=2283_1554723578_4dd3710c2e109e8cbb69314b0abfcfe0
This might be T&M's mixed edible flowers seeds for £2.99.
They would mix perfectly with some small veg and herbs for your flower raised bed and even smell nice


Oh yes, I use nasturtium flowers in salad and also borage leaves.I didn't know about viola and cornflowers but I will try those. I did know about pot marigolds so may well sow some of those. I do grow chives and allow them to flower as the flowers are pretty and the bees love them. Did you mean the flowers of chives can be eaten?


I'm also growing some wild garlic so a few leaves of those will be used.


Yes, you can eat chive flowers.  I think it's best to pull out the individual florets and sprinkle them on your salad.  There are quite a few flowers you can eat but I can't remember them all.


When I was at school (I was the cook and general housekeeper at home as my Mum had died), a friend came to me one day and was telling me how 'useless' her mother was at cooking.  She said she kept putting stuff like long grass in their food.  Long grass?  Oh, you mean chives  :idea: tell her to try chopping them into small lengths.  I think her poor mum was mortified that a schoolgirl was giving her cookery advice :-[
« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 06:48:33 pm by Fleecewife »
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #21 on: April 13, 2019, 06:53:44 pm »
My salads this year are Sioux iceberg and  a red looseleaf lettuce, baby kale leaves and spicey mixed leaves.  I also have still to sow landcress - usually I just pick bittercress from weedy bits, but I thought I would go for the real thing.
I would also like to try samphire again as I come from Norfolk where we used to pick it from the mudflats then pickle it in vinegar  :yum: :yum: .  I miss that so much.  I have tried before but with no luck.  Has anyone grown samphire successfully?
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

macgro7

  • Joined Feb 2016
  • Leicester
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #22 on: April 13, 2019, 09:02:44 pm »
I know a lot of people work hard to grow salads.
What I do is just mix all the seeds together and sprinkle then over well rotten cow manure compost and rake it a little bit. Boom!
Different salads grow in different speed and I pick some leaves from everything. No weeding, no replanting no work. After it's finished I just sign it over, put some more compost and am ready to plant something else.

Thank for remind - forgot to plant borage. I love that stuff. You can eat both leaves and flowers - tastes like cucumber.
« Last Edit: April 16, 2019, 01:42:52 pm by macgro7 »
Growing loads of fruits and vegetables! Raising dairy goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits on 1/2 acre in the middle of the city of Leicester, using permaculture methods.

cloddopper

  • Joined Jun 2013
  • South Wales .Carmarthenshire. SA18
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #23 on: April 16, 2019, 01:39:07 pm »
Just reread  my last post …. seems I was having a difficult day in my head by the look of my spellings . I hope you guys were able to understand it ..it looked right when I pressed the enter button .

 Disklexia rulz KO .
Strong belief , triggers the mind to find the way ... Dyslexia just makes it that bit more amusing & interesting

Terry T

  • Joined Sep 2014
  • Norfolk
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #24 on: April 16, 2019, 08:07:35 pm »
We’ve been eating lots of spinach for the last few weeks, from the polytunnel, it does well over winter here but I can’ get it to do well in Norfolk ‘s hot dry summers so will have to wait a year once it goes over. We’re trying a couple of different kale’s this year, Afro and Redbor, in addition to Starbor and Black Magic. I’m interested to see if the red leaves if Redbor will be more resistant to pests which is my observation for cabbages.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: What are you planning to grow this year?
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2019, 11:58:03 pm »
Just reread  my last post …. seems I was having a difficult day in my head by the look of my spellings . I hope you guys were able to understand it ..it looked right when I pressed the enter button .

 Disklexia rulz KO .


Don't worry cloddopper, the human brain compensates for misspelling, typos, and autocorrections made by the imp in the machine, so what you write makes perfect sense.
Even without dislexia, I find I make far more spelling mistakes when typing than I do when hand writing.  Also I can reread what I have written and not notice mistakes, because I see what I expect to see, as do we all.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

 

Forum sponsors

FibreHut Energy Helpline Thomson & Morgan Time for Paws Scottish Smallholder & Grower Festival Ark Farm Livestock Movement Service

© The Accidental Smallholder Ltd 2003-2024. All rights reserved.

Design by Furness Internet

Site developed by Champion IS